Chapter 374 Shadow of an Old Acquaintance

Afterward, Professor Noah officially began his lecture, introducing the students to Consciousness Upload technology by starting with the simple and progressing to the complex.

To be honest, Jiang Ran didn’t really understand much of it.

But it wasn’t a language issue.

Jiang Ran had heard Professor Noah—or Mr. Pompey, as he was also known—speak before, back in the 2045 Virtual World.

His English was impeccable and his pace was moderate, making him quite pleasant to listen to… much more pleasant, at least, than the affected British accents on the college entrance exam’s listening comprehension section.

But this kind of academic lecture was filled with too much technical jargon and too many neologisms for Jiang Ran to really comprehend.

In this respect, English had a fatal disadvantage compared to Chinese.

The English alphabet only has 26 letters, making it far less flexible than Chinese ideograms. Take the word for pneumoconiosis, for example. In Chinese, the word is composed of characters that literally mean “dust,” “lung,” and “sickness.” Even Dragon Country People with no medical knowledge could see those characters and get the gist of the meaning.

But look at the English translation… “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.” Who the hell knows what that means!

‘Oh well, it didn’t matter.’

Jiang Ran wasn’t concerned with the technical details of Professor Noah’s lecture. Just like Tang Hu next to him, who was here to cause a scene, he was simply waiting patiently for the Q&A discussion period to begin.

Bored out of his mind, Jiang Ran twirled his pen, only half-listening. Tang Hu, meanwhile, had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot restlessly against the floor, looking like he was itching to jump up and shout, “All eyes on me! I have something to say!”

“The human brain is a fascinating thing. From a computer science perspective, it’s nothing short of miraculous.”

On the lecture stage, Professor Noah slowly elaborated:

“Even today’s most powerful computers require a certain amount of time to retrieve specific data when searching their databases. This is unavoidable.”

“But the human brain is different. Its precise retrieval ability is a miracle of the natural world. For instance, if I give you a few random keywords, like ‘school,’ ‘strong wind,’ ‘overcast day’… doesn’t your mind instantly conjure a clear image, perhaps even a distinct memory?”

“Yet, if we feed those same keywords to a computer, even the most advanced AI would need to ‘think’ for a long time before it could find a matching result from its databases and archives.”

“However, the human brain also has a major drawback when it comes to learning: the speed at which it acquires and stores knowledge is far too slow. To memorize an article of just a few hundred words, to commit it to memory, would take dozens of minutes at least.”

“If you don’t review it frequently, after a few days, or perhaps a couple of weeks, you’ll have forgotten that same article, remembering only bits and pieces. But a computer is different. It can store data in an instant, and once stored, it’s never forgotten.”

“Therefore… is it possible to combine the advantages of the human brain with those of a computer to achieve an outcome where one plus one equals more than two?”

…

After explaining Consciousness Upload technology, Professor Noah began to lay out his vision for constructing a new form of human society.

Jiang Ran listened to this part very attentively, because… this was the blueprint for the 2045 Virtual Digital World.

Tang Hu, on the other hand, scoffed disdainfully as he listened.

Finally, Professor Noah mentioned:

“At our current level of science and technology, building a Digital World that could truly rival the real one is pure fantasy. We are nowhere near achieving it, both in terms of hardware and computing power.”

“Especially now, with Moore’s Law reaching its limit and no new breakthrough technologies on the horizon. An optimistic estimate would be that this idealized Virtual Digital World has no chance of being realized within the next fifty years.”

Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed when he heard this.

‘That’s right.’

‘The first time he’d stepped into the 2045 Virtual World, the same question had occurred to him.’

‘At the end of 2025, the required technology was nowhere in sight.’

‘Yet, miraculously, just three years later in 2028, when the great cataclysm struck, Professor Noah’s Virtual Digital World was fully operational.’

‘That rate of technological explosion was completely unrealistic.’

‘What allowed Professor Noah to achieve decades of technological breakthroughs in just three years, creating a Digital World that could perfectly rival the real one?’

‘The answer wasn’t hard to guess—’

‘It was because he achieved the final victory in the Genius Playground. That’s how he gained such incredible, godlike power.’

‘Teacher Zhang Yang had said that what exists is, by definition, scientific.’

‘So what category of science could explain a technological explosion that defied all common sense?’

Finally, an hour and a half later, Professor Noah concluded his lecture.

After another round of thunderous applause, the female assistant took the microphone, offered thanks in English, and announced the start of the next phase: a Q&A session where students could raise their hands to ask Professor Noah questions.

Instantly, nearly a hundred people in the lecture hall raised their hands.

However—

BAM!

Tang Hu, in the adjacent seat, slammed both hands on his desk and shot to his feet aggressively.

The female assistant froze for a moment, then hurriedly said in English:

“Sir, please respect the rules of the lecture. If you have a question, raise your hand and wait to be called upon.”

“Professor Noah!”

Tang Hu’s voice boomed, clearly powered by pent-up energy he’d been holding back for a long time.

Just as he’d intended, all eyes in the room turned to him. The lecture hall fell silent. Even Professor Noah himself regarded the unexpected guest with keen interest.

“I only have one question!”

Tang Hu stared directly at Noah.

“According to your vision, people will become Digital Life and go on to reproduce and multiply in the Virtual Digital World… So let me ask you! How exactly does that ‘reproduction’ work? Have you grown so arrogant that you think you can defy the laws of nature and create life from nothing?!”

Instantly, every student in the hall was stunned into silence, holding their breath.